OWN CORRESPONDENT, Sydney | Wednesday 10.45am. FORMER Australian Test vice-captain Ian Healy has called on South African businessman Jacques Sellshop to prove claims that Australian cricketers are involved in match fixing. Sellshop told the King Inquiry into match fixing in Cape Town on Tuesday that he had a conversation with Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar […]

ERITREAN officials on Wednesday reported renewed fighting on western and eastern fronts, in the latest round of its two-year-old war with Ethiopia. Eritrea confirmed Ethiopian reports that its forces had retaken the western Eritrean town of Guluj, 250km southwest of Asmara. “The Ethiopians are in Guluj and the fighting is in the Guluj area,” he […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Wednesday 11.50am. MINING giant De Beers on Wednesday called for a coordinated international response to stop trade in so-called ”conflict diamonds” which are funding rebel armies in Africa. In a letter to industry leaders ahead of next month’s World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and Managing Director […]

MICHAEL VLISMAS, Potchefstroom | Wednesday 9.00am. ENGLAND set the tone for their South African tour with a comfortable 52-22 victory over the North West Leopards at Olien Park on Tuesday. The tourists’ midweek team played the expansive rugby they promised and scored seven tries in their opening match, with England captain Ben Clarke and winger […]

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, the country’s main trade union, has called off its five-day nationwide strike over fuel price increases, NLC leader Adams Oshiomhole said on Tuesday. The strike, which began last Thursday to protest the almost 50% rise in the pump prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene was called off after labour and government […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.20pm. RETAIL banking in South Africa is under mounting pressure, particularly where the country’s biggest four banks are concerned, the Banking Council of South Africa said on Wednesday. Persistent demands that the banks extend services to low-income South Africans, which produces significantly lower returns than other business areas, was part […]

FORMER apartheid chemical weapons expert Dr Wouter Basson’s trial had to be interrupted on Monday while he was rushed to the side of an advocate, Charlie Moore, who had collapsed in a nearby courtroom. An advocate from a nearby court rushed in to ask for his help and Basson helped to stabilise Moore. Basson fully […]

JUDGMENT is expected to be handed downin the Port Alfred High Court in the trial of brothers Bongani and Zolani Tom and a 17-year-old. The men are charged with murdering Cape Town businesswoman Brenda Fairhead and her daughter Kia, 11, in the Keiskamma Pass in January. State prosecutor Malherbe Marais on Monday in court called […]